Motor vehicle anti-theft devices are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,294 is directed to an anti-theft clip for securing a lock cylinder to a car door consisting of panels attached to resilient legs which straddle and hold the lock cylinder, however, the device does not protect against the downward insertion of a stiff rod to reach the lock levers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,300 is directed specifically to a motor vehicle anti-theft device designed to prevent access to the levers which control the operating of the door lock within a vehicle door. An L-shaped metal plate including a horizontal cover strip of rigid material of predetermined length and width is employed to substantially cover the space between the vehicle window glass pane and the outside panel of a vehicle door with a vertically downwardly projecting right angle support strip which is attached internally within the door cavity to the sash of the automobile window to prevent the insertion of a tool to release the lock actuating levers within the vehicle door.
The anti-theft device of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,300 requires access to the interior cavity between the exterior door panel and the interior door panel and a permanent modification of the vehicle door assembly.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved, simple, unitary anti-theft device for blocking access to the insertion of a thin metal tool between the window pane and the exterior panel of a vehicle door to move one or more of the actuating lever arms attached to the door latch release mechanism which may be manually inserted between the interior door panel and the window glass pane, which device may be frictionally locked in place and which carries a shield plate of predetermined size which is effectively positioned adjacent to the door latch release mechanism thereby preventing contact by an inserted metal tool attempting to mechanically release the door latch mechanism.